I’m reading President Obama op-ed in USA Today about the deficit. If I’m not mistaken, it contains the strange message that he wants the middle class to pay a significant portion of the cleanup costs for a mess they didn’t create.

That’s why people in both parties have suggested that the best way to take on our deficit is with a more balanced approach. Yes, we should make serious spending cuts. But we should also ask the wealthiest individuals and biggest corporations to pay their fair share through fundamental tax reform. Before we stop funding clean energy research, we should ask oil companies and corporate jet owners to give up the tax breaks that other companies don’t get. Before we ask college students to pay more, we should ask hedge fund managers to stop paying taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries. Before we ask seniors to pay more for Medicare, we should ask people like me to give up tax breaks they don’t need and never asked for.

The middle class hasn’t just borne the brunt of this recession; they’ve been dealing with higher costs and stagnant wages for more than a decade now. It’s just not right to ask them to pay the whole tab — especially when they’re not the ones who caused this mess in the first place.

Obviously, it is not right to ask the middle class to pick up the whole tab. What I don’t understand is why Obama thinks this is fair. It’s only logical Obama should be demanding that those who did create the problem should pay the bill.

Since Wall Street caused this recession, we should be demanding only Wall Street pay, especially since Wall Street is flush with cash right now. Saying the struggling middle class should chip in is a terrible message.

9 Responses
to “Obama: Middle Class Should Pay Some of the Costs to Fix Mess They Didn’t Cause”

Better yet: If the middle class that didn’t cause the mess doesn’t pay to clean it up,
some of the people who did cause the mess, namely S&P, Moody’s and Fitch,
threaten to destroy the family jewels. Vandalism pays.

How about we cut the crap with the pressure politics and just deal with the debt ceiling? Why is it that we only deal with issues when we have absolutely no time for reasoned debate? Why is it that we can’t start discussing and dealing with these issues long before they are on the horizon? We all knew damn good and well that things were going to reach this point and it isn’t going to get any better.

Obama is creating this artificial pressure cooker to force changes on the American people that are unwarranted and only serve those that are fueling his re-election campaign. Both sides of Washington are bought and paid for by the same people, the only people who are going to “win” here are the rich. For the rest of it, cat food.

I can’t wait to NOT VOTE for Obama in 2012. I’d rather vote for Palin than Obama.

Obama has no interest in the middle class because he and his family left that behind a long time ago. When he leaves the White House, he and Michelle will both get cushy jobs with the Pritzkers or some of the other people who have been grooming him and bankrolling him.

obumble is not worried about who caused the deficit and debt problems; he is only using that as “shock doctrine” to force us “lesser people” to pay more of the funds needed in order to break us. Even when we have a national income about equal to Haiti, the chant will still be “USA number 1″ over and over.

There is not only a class struggle in this country — these (Washington) people are on a different planet. You’re right that the struggling middle class should not have to pick up the tab for the people who caused the problems.

We are already paying $3.50-$4 a gallon for gas so some can make more profits, too much for health care costs and insurance so some can make more profits, too much for wars and deaths so some can make more profits, providing subsidies to corps so they can make more profits while ruining the environment, and on and on and on.

Not only is it not fair or moral, but also it is simply ludicrous to think that the middle class can continue this charade. Many facing retirement years have nothing other than SS and Medicare; they’ve lost jobs, retirement funds, benefits, home equity and on and on and on. And someone thinks we can pay more for Medicare? How can we get it across to them that they need to come back to Earth?